I Can't Lose You
by withgirl
Summary: Regina didn't allow Emma to take in the darkness, what lengths will Emma go to save the new Dark One from herself? [Established SwanQueen Regina x Emma pairing] Will put T/W's at the beginning of each chapter if they apply :) Rating due to later chapters [No smut] T/W for major character death/suicide
1. Chapter 1

"We can tether it to a person," Emma announced.

"No" Regina shouted adamantly, there was no way that she was going to allow her girlfriend to give up her goodness for her, she just didn't think that she could go through that considering everything that they had been through to finally get together.

As Emma approached with the dagger, Regina focused all of her energy on bringing the dagger to her hand, just as Emma was standing in front of the swirl of darkness, the dagger disappeared from her hand and reappeared in the former queens.

"Regina please," Emma begged, only to be softly thrown back by Regina's magic.

"I can't lose another person," Regina explained, as she pointed the dagger at the darkness.

The energy became attracted to the dark metal, and it began snaking its way around her arm and towards her face.

Charming held Emma back as the darkness began to attack her love, in a final flurry of pure black the brunette disappeared, the dagger clattered to the ground as Emma finally broke free of her father's grip and ran towards it. Dropping to her knees she picked up the dagger and tentatively picked it up and turned it over, she let out a cry of despair as she saw 'Regina Mills' inscribed upon its evil metal.

Charming and Mary Margaret fell to their knees beside their daughter each placing a hand on her shoulder, "it's going to be okay' her mother assured.

Emma pulled out a small box out of her pocket and inspected the ring that she had planned to give to the woman that she loved more than life itself, "what if it won't be?" she sniffled.

"We just need to have hope," Charming cooed, kissing his daughters temple.

* * *

Regina woke up and looked around, she felt confusion tear through her as she saw that she was now surrounded by trees. The last thing that she could remember was an oppressive feeling of darkness bearing down upon her, and she also saw Emma's terrified face.

A moment later she felt pure hate, rivalled only by what she had felt everyday as the Evil Queen. A mocking voice began running through her mind.

 _How could Snow White's daughter ever love you._

 _You're not Henry's real mother._

 _Everyone in this town hates you._

 _You will never be anything but the Evil Queen._

As each thought flied through her mind she kept repeating, "no, you're wrong, YOU'RE WRONG!"

 _You should kill them all, it's the only way that you'll ever be happy._

"NO!" she shouted clutching the sides of her face, "I'll never hurt them."

 _They would turn on you the instant you make a wrong move_ the voice taunted.

"They l-love me," Regina whimpered.

 _Why would they love you when there are so many other options, not one of them owe you anything._

Regina fell to her knees, tears streaming down her face.

Suddenly another voice entered her mind, "Dark One I summon thee."

Try as she might she couldn't resist the command, dark smoke bellowed as she answered the call.

Looking around she saw that she was now in the Charming's apartment with Henry hiding behind a hopeful looking Emma.

Though she hadn't had this feeling in years, she suddenly felt complete and utter anger. Looking between Emma and Henry she felt like she was trying to take him away from her, even though they had been a family since Emma had moved into the mansion a few months ago.

"Regina," Emma breathed, and Regina wondered whether she looked any different.

"What do you want?" she growled.

Emma stepped back in shock, "Regina please, you have to fight this."

"There is nothing to fight," she replied with a sneer.

"I know that the darkness is probably making you think all of these negative thoughts, but you know that none of them are true," Emma answered desperately.

"It has shown be the truth, I was happy before you broke the curse and brought the two idiots back into my life."

"That's not true, you was miserable under the curse," Henry tried to step forward, only for Emma to put her arm out to stop him.

"Well I would have been happy if you didn't act like such a brat," she countered.

Emma looked at her girlfriend in shock, and then turned to see tears threatening to fall from the young boy's eyes.

"Regina you know that we love you no matter what, you have to come back to us. I don't know if I can survive without you," Emma begged.

"I'm willing to bet that you easily could," Regina replied.

Emma shook her head, clearly at a loss for words, Snow and Charming stepped forward from the kitchen and Snow tentatively said, "you fought the darkness once, you can do it again."

"And how would you know what it is like to fight darkness, just because you killed one person you think that you can understand everything about me."

"Regina, you can't listen to the darkness, we all need you, you're part of this family," Charming offered.

"You seemed to get along just fine after the curse was broken," Regina growled.

Emma finally allowed tears to fall, "I regret that everyday, I love you and I can't stand to think that you're alone."

 _She doesn't love you, how can she possibly love you?_

Regina shook her head, and whispered "no."

Emma looked at her curiously, _the darkness is talking to her_ she thought.

Holding up the dagger she said "go back to whence you came."

As Regina disappeared, Emma looked between the three others in the room, "what do we do now?"

"We just need to find a way to help her," Snow squeaked.

Emma sighed and threw herself on the couch, "you say that like it's the easiest thing in the world."

 **A/N Just an idea I had, let me know whether I should continue, also would appreciate reviews :)**

 **I also need to thank QueenApples (my beta) for all the help and support that she has been giving me for all of my fics XD**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two

-Two weeks later-

 _"Emma stop it," Regina tried to scold, though she was clearly holding back a laugh._

 _Henry snickered as his blonde mother continued building a fort out of her mash potato._

 _"I'm having fun," Emma pouted._

 _"Well stop," Regina retorted._

 _Emma sighed dramatically, and sat in silence for a moment._

 _Looking from her plate to Regina the mayor held up a hand, "don't even think about it."_

 _Emma loaded potato onto her fork, and without further warning flicked it at her girlfriend's face._

 _"What is wrong with you?" Regina asked with a sigh as she magically brought the projectile into a small mash ball._

 _Emma shrugged, "you were against the fort."_

 _Regina turned to Henry, "weren't you ever worried about her being the saviour?"_

 _Henry nodded, and Emma looked at him in mock outrage, only for the ball of potato to hit her in the nose._

 _Henry shook his head and grabbed his plate, deciding it would be safer to eat dinner away from the magical potato warfare._

Regina woke up with a smile on her face.

Seconds later the fogginess disappeared, and the taunting returned.

 _They can't love you._

 _Love is weakness._

 _Why do you need other people?_

Regina groaned, and brought the pillow on her makeshift bed over her ears, though the voice only seemed to get louder.

* * *

Emma sighed and threw the book onto the floor, "this is pointless!"

Snow walked over to her daughter and placed a hand on her shoulder, "we can't give up sweetheart."

"It's been t two weeks and no one has heard from her, how are these books going to help?"

"Belle said that it's the best she could do before Rumple wakes up."

"Well, none of these are good enough, why can't we just go to Regina's vault?" Emma asked.

"Your father tried, he said there's magical barrier," Snow replied softly.

Emma let out an irritated growl, before grabbing another book, "I feel like I should be finding her."

Snow nodded in understanding and sat next to the blonde, "you know we have a way to call her here."

Emma closed the dark tome, and leaned back, "I don't want to control her."

"If you want to see her than you can always call her."

Emma gave her mother a weak smile, "I know your right, I'm just..."

"Afraid?"

Emma put her head in her hands and nodded, "it's been two weeks, where do you think she is, mom?"

"You know her best," Snow reminded her, placing her arm around her daughter's shoulder.

"Her vault," Emma sighed.

Snow nodded in agreement, "I guess you know what you have to do then?"

"Go and be verbally abused," Emma sniffled.

"Isn't that the foundation of your relationship?"

Emma laughed and leaned in to her mother's side, "I guess.

* * *

Regina leaned against stone wall of her vault feeling deep irritation.

All she wanted to do was to leave this vault, but for some reason she had locked the door magically as she had done during the shattered sight spell. She had to admit that as a hero, she found herself rather annoying.

Grabbing a dark tome from a pile she had meticulously made, she continued her refresher course on dark magic.

Each moment she had to herself had become torture, so she had decided that she needed a distraction, if she ever let her mind wander, she was constantly reminded of all of the wrongs that had been done to her. She remembered in detail, every time that Emma had taken her son, the number of times Henry had told her that she wasn't his mother. Most importantly she remembered what her dearest step-daughter had done to her.

In her waking moments, almost every fibre of her being had returned to feeling complete and utter rage at the woman that had ruined her life. But when she slept she remembered how supportive she had been when she and Emma had revealed their relationship, she had quite literally created her happy ending.

All rational thought deserted her however, when she woke and felt the darkness weighing upon every cell in her body. Clearly her dreams were the only place that it couldn't get to her, but that wouldn't help her much in the long run.

Flipping to a page about the various methods of disembowelling, she was interrupted by a loud knock at the door.

"Are you in there, Gina?" Emma called.

For a split second Regina felt happiness at hearing her girlfriend's voice, but it was quickly replaced. _Why would she love the Evil Queen? How could anyone love the Dark One?_

Regina took a steadying breath, before placing the book on the floor and making her way over to the door.

"Help me, Emma," she replied desperately, though a part of her wished that the blonde wouldn't be so easily tricked.

Emma smiled, _I found her...oh God is that genetic?_ Shaking her head, she brought her hand up to the door and focused on removing barrier, despite knowing that she really shouldn't.

A moment later the door swung open and Emma was faced with a perfect looking Regina, _shouldn't she be a bit dishevelled?_ She wondered for a second, before disregarding the thought.

Emma launched forward and hugged her.

 _How can she be so idiotic?_ Regina internally seethed, though try as she might she couldn't go against what the darkness wanted.

"I missed you," Emma mumbled against her hair that still smelt like apples. "Is there like a bathroom in here?" the blonde laughed.

Regina furrowed her brow, before realising what she meant, "I am quite capable of maintaining hygiene Miss Swan."

"Miss Swan?"

Regina realised her folly, while the other part of her was more than happy that her idiot had figured it out.

"You haven't called me that in a while," Emma laughed nervously. She was beginning to see that she had been rash here, probably because she had been having serious girlfriend withdrawal that she had barely listened to her mother's cautions about being careful.

Regina blinked a few times, and Emma noted the confusion in her eyes.

 _Did it make her a different person?_

The mayor quickly shook her head, the darkness telling her to get what she wanted.

Leaning up, she captured the blonde's lips with hers. As if through muscle memory, Emma brought her hands up to her waist and they stumbled back until they hit a wall.

Emma pulled back, though she didn't let go of the smaller woman, "wow," she breathed.

Regina nodded, _get it now!_ and quickly repeated the action, this time slipping her tongue into the other woman's mouth. They battled for dominance until air became an issue. At the last second, Regina leaned down and pulled the dagger out of Emma's boot, and sent the blonde back with a blast of energy, though it was softer than what the darkness had intended.

Emma paled at the sight before her, trying desperately to wrap her brain around what had just happened.

"G-Gina?" she asked tentatively.

"Don't call me that!" Regina shouted, though she was quite happy about it. Every time Emma did something that was just well; Emma, Regina felt the darkness recede slightly. She could tell that's why it didn't want the kiss to go on for much longer, she just wished that she was strong enough to actually defeat it altogether, and she had secretly hoped her kiss plan would work. She had no doubt in her mind that Emma was her true love, so she knew for once it wasn't the answer to their problems.

Unwillingly, she smiled manically down at the dagger, running her hand over its surface; she turned it over, only to find the name 'Rumplestiltskin' inscribed upon it.

"What is this?" she roared.

Emma swallowed and took a step back, "I don't know," she stuttered in reply.

Despite her best efforts, a fire ball appeared in her hand, and was about to make contact with the blonde's face, when something else stopped her.

"I command you to stop," Snow announced, holding up the real dagger.

"M-mom?" Emma asked in a small voice.

"I knew you wouldn't listen to me," Snow explained.

"How did you get a fake?"

"Belle gave it to me just in case," she replied.

"You're an idiot," Regina retorted.

Snow furrowed her brow, she had been quite proud of her plan, "why?"

"What if something happened and you wasn't here?" Regina swallowed hard thinking about the possibility.

Snow looked from Regina to her shell-shocked daughter, _that's something to analyse later,_ she thought.

"I command you to go to..."

"The holding cell," Regina said quickly, with someone commanding her, she could finally feel the darkness loosen its hold, though she still wanted to rip the woman in front of her limb from limb for daring to trick her. "It's still protected from Zelena," she added, though she could hear the darkness shouting that she was a fool for trying to help them.

Snow looked at Emma, who just nodded still unable to form coherent thoughts let alone words.

"I command you to stay in the holding cell, and to not hurt anyone in the sheriff's station."

Regina disappeared in a cloud of smoke, and Emma walked over to her mother.

"Look, Emma, I'm sorry for trying to trick you, but I thought it was the best way to..."

Emma cut her off with a hug, sobs racking her body.

Snow smiled sadly, and began drawing circles on her daughter's back and making a comforting 'shushing' sound.

 **A/N With the help of QueenApples I've had a stroke of inspiration for this story, so it's no longer on hiatus XD**

 **Anyway I should warn you that this will be a sad one so I apologise in advance haha**

 **Please review and let me know what you think, it would be much appreciated :)**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter three

Regina lay back against the cot in the holding cell, Charming's typing the only sound accompanying her cruel thoughts.

She had been here for about four hours, and she couldn't help but notice that the sheriff hadn't once come to the station.

 _She's too much of a coward._

 _She's afraid of you like all the rest of them._

 _Why would she love a monster?_

Regina swallowed hard and hit her head against the wall, which earned her a surprised look from Charming.

"Don't you have work to do, deputy?" she asked a scathingly.

Charming nodded slowly and returned to his computer, for once he wasn't wishing for the queen's death. It was undeniable how happy she made Emma, and though he had originally opposed their relationship, (never openly of course), he had come to see Regina as part of the family. Though the thought of her as his daughter-in-law would have taken some getting used to, he dutifully sat in on the meeting with Emma, Henry and Snow while they planned the perfect proposal. They had decided that under the apple tree would suit Regina, if all had gone to plan they would have already been engaged for twelve days.

Regina inspected the man for a few more moments, he was noticeably avoiding her gaze and his regular 'covert' looks were starting to irritate her.

"You know I don't need a watchdog?"

Charming rolled his eyes, "I have work to do," he reminded her.

"A sheriff actually doing their work, what a novel idea," Regina laughed.

At this Charming actually smirked, "Emma does her work, sometimes."

"If that's true I've had very little evidence."

Charming openly smiled at Regina, and for a moment she smiled back.

 _He has always wanted you dead._

 _You ruined his life, why would he allow you to be with his daughter?_

 _Do you actually believe he considers you family?_

Regina's eyes fluttered shut, and she turned towards the wall.

"Regina?" Charming asked, as she quickly jumped up.

"I'm tired," she replied shortly.

Charming frowned, but nodded towards her back. He returned to his desk, and began to wonder how long they would have to deal with a bipolar mayor.

* * *

Emma had basically been swaddled in a snuggie by her mother, which Snow thought would have been funny in a different situation.

The blonde had been huddled on the couch at the Charming apartment for hours.

Since it happened, neither Henry nor Emma had returned to the mansion, and with everything going on, Snow was at least relieved that Neal had begun to sleep through the night.

"Hungry?" Snow asked for the tenth time.

Emma shook her head, and continued to stare at a family photo on the T.V. stand.

Snow sighed, and picked up the photo, sitting next to her daughter she held it up.

It was a photo of them all at Granny's after the whole Zelena debacle (the first one at least) had ended. Emma and Regina had finally told the town that they were a couple, they had of course told the Charming's long before, and Ruby had insisted that it had to be documented. She had just about took the picture before the mayor's eye roll, in the split second where she was smiling broadly at her girlfriend.

"It will be fine, Emma," Snow assured as she placed the frame in her daughter's hand.

Emma nodded half-heartedly and ran her finger across Regina's face.

"And what if it's not?" she croaked, her throat sore from all the sobbing.

Snow smiled sadly and brought a hand across her shoulder, "what harm can hope have?"

Emma nodded in agreement, despite her thought, _false hope can do a lot of harm._

* * *

 _"Emma what is wrong with you?" Regina called as the saviour made her way down Main Street._

 _The blonde stopped and turned to the mayor, "what's wrong? Your sister just threw you through a clock tower," she shouted._

 _Regina sighed in frustration, "so?"_

 _Emma gave her a disbelieving looked, before continuing to storm away._

 _"Where are you going?" Regina groaned._

 _"To find her."_

 _Regina sighed again, and looking around just encase Henry was around, she allowed her magic to surge forward and appeared in front of the blonde._

 _"Don't be an idiot," Regina said as she lightly grabbed the saviour's bicep._

 _Emma tensed for a moment before deflating._

 _"Your right, it's just..."_

 _"You're projecting?" Regina smirked._

 _"What?" Emma asked with an exasperated sigh._

 _"There is clearly a deeper issue here, you never got this angry before," Emma was about to deny this, but Regina held up her hand, "you always saved me, but you never went looking for revenge straight after."_

 _"This is different," Emma mumbled._

 _"How?" Regina laughed._

 _"Well back then you was just the incredibly sexy mayor that I pretended not to like...and now...well I don't know what we are...why are you smiling?"_

 _"You're being ridiculous; our new found intimacy doesn't change anything."_

 _"Of course it does!" Emma shouted._

 _"What is the issue here Emma?" Regina's smirk lessened for a moment,_ are we actually having a fight about this, _she thought. "I'm not ready..."_

 _"Not it's not that," Emma replied quickly, "I get that you don't want people to know yet,"_

The blonde looked around to see that the street was finally deserted after the witch showdown, and _surged forward to hug the other woman. Regina winced slightly, and Emma pulled back to see a cut along her shoulder blade that she had somehow missed._

 _"That's it!" Emma snapped, and she turned to continue to the farm house._

 _Regina groaned, and grabbed the blonde, "What is wrong with you Swan?" she shouted._

 _"Everyone I love or even like dies!" Emma shouted back through tears._

 _Regina raised her eyebrow, and the blonde finally deflated and dropped onto a nearby bench._

 _"Hook died in Neverland, Neal is probably dead, and I don't know how I felt about Graham..."_

 _Regina plopped down next to Emma with a pained expression on her face, and Emma realised her mistake, "I didn't mean that last one to be your fault."_

 _"But it was," she replied with a downward look._

 _"You were a different, granted psychotic person then. I love who you are now," Emma replied. Regina looked at the blonde with a small smile, and Emma continued, "which brings me back to my point..."_

 _Regina leaned forward and locked their lips in a short sweet kiss._

 _"Stop being an idiot Swan, I'm not that easy to get rid of."_

 _"Promise?" Emma sighed._

 _"I promise."_

 **A/N I decided that it would be easier to just write Hook out, so sorry if you guys wanted to see him in this fic, because I think that at this point there would be no point writing in Robin or Hook.**

 **I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, reviews would be much appreciated :)**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter four

 _"Henry, we have something to tell you," Regina said softly._

 _The boy sat on the couch, with his mother's each sitting on the coffee table, and furrowed his brow in concern._

 _"Don't worry kid, it's nothing bad, at least I hope it's not," Emma rambled._

 _"What is it?" Henry laughed, he had just recently gotten his memories back, which made him rethink some of the interactions he had seen between Emma and 'the mayor of Storybrooke,' he just hoped that he was right._

 _"Your mom and me..." Emma began._

 _"I knew it!" Henry stood up excitedly._

 _"You knew?" Regina asked, completely shell shocked._

 _"I did see a lot of yearning looks," Henry laughed._

 _Regina looked at Emma triumphantly, "I don't yearn," she sighed dramatically._

 _"It was mom as well," Henry reasoned._

 _Regina looked at the boy with faux outrage and he quickly brought them both into a hug. "Are you going to tell gram and gramps?"_

 _Regina paled, "do we have to?"_

 _Emma chuckled and placed a soft kiss on her cheek, "I'm afraid so."_

* * *

"Gramps?" Henry shouted into the empty station.

Furrowing his brow, he went over to David's desk and spotted a note on the door he had just walked past, 'out for lunch, calls will go to David's cell.' _No wonder mom hates this department,_ Henry internally chuckled.

He had spent the last couple of weeks wishing that he had kept the author's quill for a while longer, but instead Emma had told him, after being convinced by her parents, to just stay away from Regina. This was made easier by the fact that he didn't know where she was. But it didn't make it any less frustrating! The only thing that he had found helpful was to throw himself into his school work, the thought of her reaction if he fell behind always making him try harder. In the last couple weeks he had literally improved in every class, and now he was out of distractions. If he had to write what was happening than he was pretty sure he had to know what was going on, so he had resolved to just ask his grandfather, knowing that Emma would be far too fragile. Since he'd known her (he had begun to discount the fake memories, he was pretty sure they didn't count) the number of times he had seen her cry could be counted on one hand. But he had ran out of fingers since his mother went missing, and he hated having to deal with his mother being gone as well as watching his blonde mother so distraught.

A soft noise pulled him out of his thoughts, and he turned to see a woman asleep in the holding cell.

"Mom?" he asked excitedly, seemingly forgetting where she was.

Regina groaned and turned, opening her eyes she saw the boy in front of her, now slightly taller than he had been in her dream.

The same as every other day she felt her memories allow her a few moments of bliss, but then it seemed as if the darkness just had mount an attack on any semblance of happiness.

 _He is not your real son._

 _He never loved you for who you really are._

 _He would betray you at the drop of a hat if he thought he could have his father back._

Regina sat up slowly and inspected the boy, "why are you here?" she tried to say evenly, but it came out as an accusation.

Henry just shook his head and walked closer to the cell.

 _Don't hurt anyone in the sheriff's station._ Kept running through her mind, _at least Snow isn't a complete fool,_ she thought.

"Where have you been?" Henry choked out.

The command kept running through her mind, and she felt the darkness try to fight it. Smiling as it failed she stood regally from the cot and walked over to her son.

"In my vault," she replied.

Henry sighed, "I'm such an idiot, that's so obvious."

"You were looking for me?"

"Well...Emma said..."

 _Emma is his real mother, he doesn't need you anymore, he has her._

Regina stepped away from the door, and Henry tried desperately to grab her through the bar, but she was already out of reach.

"She told you not to look for me?" she asked stoically.

Henry sighed, "no...well yes...but..."

 _Would it have taken two weeks if it were someone else that went missing?_

Regina sighed and fell hard onto the cot.

 _Villains don't get their happy endings,_ the voice taunted, _why do you deserve it?_

Regina closed her eyes, and images of all of the hearts she had ripped out played like a slideshow, she saw all the failed plots, the pointless murder attempts. For the first time she found herself beginning to agree with the voice.

"Leave," she said quietly.

"But mom..." Henry cried.

"Leave, you're not my _real_ son!" she taunted.

Tears gathered in his eyes, and Regina felt instant regret. She tried to stand but she somehow couldn't, _it's getting stronger,_ she realised with widened eyes.

"Hen..." she tried instead, only to receive no answer.

Henry ran from the station until he reached a bench, falling hard onto it, he brought his knees up and balanced his head upon them.

When he finally caught his breath, cries began to tear through his throat.

As much as he had grown in the past few years, it was still an unreal feeling to have his own words thrown back at him by his own mother.

He had seen moments of his true mother in that cell. She had looked genuinely happy to see him, but then as soon as he started talking her demeanour had completely switched and become defensive. _Is the darkness warping everything she thinks and hears?_

He felt the need to go back to her, but was also too afraid to do so; after all he didn't know that she was commanded not to hurt anyone in the station. He just felt so guilty for being too afraid to go and talk to the woman who had raised him.

"Henry?" a male voice asked softly.

The boy looked up from his knees and was immediately assaulted by a tongue, "Pongo," he laughed half heartedly.

Archie pulled the dog back slightly, eventually getting him to sit.

"What happened?"

Henry looked at the therapist, and decided if he couldn't talk to either of his moms, a professional would have to be second best.

"I saw mom in the sheriff station."

"Regina?" Archie asked with a furrowed brow.

Henry nodded.

"So she's different then?" the cricket sighed.

Henry nodded again and leaned back against the bench, "what should I do?"

"I'm afraid magic wasn't included in my PhD," he laughed, only to see Henry's frown deepen. "Talk to someone who understands what it's like."

"Who?"

"I believe you and Emma may be in the same position."

"But she's so sad, I thought I could try and be the strong one for a change," Henry sighed, "obviously I can't."

"Henry...your fourteen."

"So?" Henry asked somewhat offended.

"Emma would want to help you, maybe talking will help her as well."

"Have you met her?" Henry laughed.

"You would be surprised," Archie chuckled.

Henry offered him a small smile, "thanks Archie."

"Anytime."

 **A/N Hope you guys enjoyed, reviews would be much appreciated :)**

 **Just to let you know, I'll try and update this daily (I'm thinking it will be about ten chapters) :)**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter five

 _"Whatcha doing?" Emma asked innocently._

 _Regina looked up over the book she held and just smirked at the childish woman._

 _"I'm researching the author."_

 _"You can't actually think that Gold will find him," Emma laughed as she took the book out of her hands and helped her stand up._

 _"I'd rather not risk things being rewritten," she replied, as she brought her arms around the saviour's shoulder._

 _Emma smirked and raised an eyebrow._

 _"What?" Regina laughed._

 _"I think that may have been the most charming thing you've ever said."_

 _Regina's face contorted into one of fake disgust and Emma just chuckled and lightly pecked her lips._

 _"I came to see if you want to come to dinner."_

 _"You could have called," Regina replied._

 _"Then if you said no I would get to see you till morning. As a side note can you make it so the sheriff doesn't have to do night shifts?"_

 _Regina rolled her eyes, and picked up the book, "I'm nearly finished, I just can't remember what this symbol means."_

 _Emma looked at it for a moment and said "it means sacrifice."_

 _Regina looked at the blonde in shock and she gave her a sheepish smile._

 _"I learnt."_

 _"Why?" Regina chuckled._

 _"It seemed like it would be easier than Spanish," she replied and Regina just rolled her eyes and began to walk away. Emma followed behind her and called, "it wasn't by the way."_

* * *

Emma flicked to the next page of the books she had taken from the vault. Though they had more information than the first set, they all seemed to be in agreement that death was the only means to be free of the darkness. Snapping the latest book down, she threw onto the pile that had formed next to her.

Eventually she had managed to stop staring at the photo. Once her mother had promised to be back from picking up Neal as soon as possible, she had formed a research system, despite that it hadn't helped just a few hours ago.

She knew that she wasn't dealing with this in a healthy way, but she was so sure that they would have been engaged by now.

In her dreams she the stunning dress that her bride would have worn and the simple one that her mother would have forced into. She imagined all of the photos that they could flick through with Henry's children. She had literally planned it all out, right down to the twins that they would have if Regina agreed. She had even planned to have this conversation with the other woman while snuggling in bed together. Now everything just felt out of reach, and she kept trying to tell herself

that she was being irrational. They had faced many crises together, and why should the latest be any different? _Because she's not here to help,_ Emma thought.

Shaking her head, she grabbed another book that was written in Elfish. Small tears began to prick at the corners of her eyes when she realised that this was what she had studied for weeks to make sure that everything was perfect for Regina.

Placing the book down, she pulled a velvet box out of her pocket and inspected its contents as she had been doing anxiously for the last few weeks.

This had to be the most effort that she had ever put into magic in the two years that she knew she had it.

She had spent weeks mastering the spell that she needed, desperately trying not ruin the platinum band that she had spent a good portion of her savings on. She practiced until she had finally been able to engrave an apple and a swan onto its two sides. She had to say that she was quite proud of it, but the longer it wasn't on Regina's finger, the more she began to feel like it wasn't good enough.

Closing her eyes, she placed it on the coffee table, and gritted her teeth, _get it together Swan._

"Ma?" Henry asked worriedly, as he realised that Emma hadn't even heard the door opening.

Emma looked up at her son, "hey, I was just..."

Henry just nodded before she could try and make something up, "you know she'll love the ring."

Emma smiled at it sadly and nodded in return, "she better," she laughed.

Henry came and sat next to her, grabbing the book she was looking at, he asked, "anything?"

"No...not yet."

Silence fell as Henry stared at the symbols he didn't understand, until a thought occurred to him, "what about true love's kiss?"

Emma's breath hitched and Henry sighed.

"You already tried?"

Emma nodded slightly, "from what I've read, it's not a curse, so it can't be broken. All I've found are things that won't help," she laughed bitterly.

Henry inspected her for a moment, before he decided to ask the pressing question, "why did you tell me to stay away from her?"

Emma fell back against the back of the couch, "that was more Snow, we don't know what she's thinking, so it's safer I guess...but don't worry...we'll..."

Henry held up his hand to stop her, "don't you find it quite hypocritical for you to lie?" he asked jokingly.

Emma fell silent for a few moment, before she said, "you're right, I have no idea what to do...but there's always something right?"

Henry nodded in agreement, before he frowned, "she's just so different though."

Emma's eyes widened in surprise, "you saw her?"

"I went to the station to talk to David, and I saw her. At first she seemed...I don't know..."

"Normal?" Emma supplied.

"Yeah...she was happy to see me. But then she found out that you told me not to look for her and then..."

Emma sighed, and nodded for him to continue.

Henry gulped, before he added, "she said that I'm not her real son, and then I kind of just ran away."

The blonde let out a breath, she couldn't help but think that Regina would know exactly what to say to the boy.

"She didn't mean it," she tried.

Henry just sigh and fell back beside her, "it felt like she did."

"Well...we'll just have to..."

"Ma," Henry cut her off, "I'm not here for a hope speech."

Emma smiled at his wording, while at the same time trying to hold back tears and nodded.

"Then why are you here?" she asked softly.

"I figured out of everyone you would be the one to understand and not try and say 'it'll be fine', because at the moment that isn't really helping."

"I know what you mean," Emma sighed, "but what else can we do?"

"Maybe we should stop running away from her for a start," Henry chuckled half-heartedly.

"You probably have a point, it's just..."

"You're afraid?" Emma was about to protest, but Henry continued, "I don't really want to go back until it's all over, but for that to happen I think we need to go back."

"And do what? There's nothing in the books," Emma pointed out,

"Forget the books," Henry laughed.

"Can the author say that?" Emma asked in mock surprise.

Henry just shook his head, "they're the answer to a lot, but not to everything."

Emma gave him a disbelieving look, before she sighed, "fine, what do we then? She just seems to get angrier the longer I stay."

Henry shrugged, "maybe if we stay longer she'll get less angry. Maybe she'll tell us what's going on in her head."

Emma was about to agree, only to be interrupted by the ringing of her phone.

"What's up Belle?"

Henry watched Emma nodded and agree and after a minute she hung up, with a 'thank you.'

"I think we may need to make a stop at the hospital first."

"Why?" Henry asked with a furrowed brow.

"Gold just woke up, and I think he'll be able to answer our questions."

 **A/N Hope you guys enjoyed XD I have work tomorrow so I'm releasing this chapter earlier.**

 **Reviews would be much appreciated :)**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter six

 _"They'll never love me," the disguised queen announced while inspecting the peasant in the mirror._

 _Rumpel began to giggle manically, after all this time he could finally see the ending near, and he didn't care what he had to do to the woman before him to get back to his son._

 _"So sad, and yet so true," he laughed, "what are you going to do now then?"_

 _The young queen took a moment to inspect her image, remembering everything that those people had done to her, there was no longer any doubt in her mind._

 _"Punish them."_

 _The Dark One continued his hysterical laugh, she had finally stopped resisting his plan for her and he couldn't be more thrilled._

 _Waving his hand, purple smoke enveloped the woman before him, and within a moment she returned to the image universally feared throughout many kingdoms._

 _"The queen is dead; long live the Evil Queen."_

"Rumpel," an Australian voice said softly, "its okay."

The man opened his eyes and let out a breath of shock at realising that he was in a hospital with Belle beside him. Frankly he had expected to be dead by now, most likely with no one to mourn him.

"What happened?" he tried to ask evenly, though it came out as a croak.

"The Apprentice removed the darkness from your heart," Belle replied, while passing him a cup of water.

He nodded, faintly remembering that happening, "it worked?" he asked once his throat was suitably hydrated.

Belle tilted her head, "sort of..."

Before she could finish her explanation, the door opened, and revealed Emma and Henry.

"Wonderful," Gold muttered, "am I not even allowed time off for illness?" he tried, though it lacked its usual edge.

"Not when this is all your fault," Emma replied.

Rumpel frowned, and Belle leaned towards the blonde, "I haven't told him yet."

"Oh..." Emma sighed.

"Told me what?" Gold asked, slight fear in his voice, which caused those around him to raise their eyebrows. Clearing his throat, he tried again, "will someone tell me?"

Belle nodded, and began her explanation again, "the Apprentice tried to contain the darkness in the hat, but...it was too strong and it got out."

Gold nodded, trying to work through the implications of this, though he was sure it was the first time that it had ever happened.

"Okay...and?"

"It tethered itself to another person," Belle replied.

"Regina?" he said instantly.

"How could you know that?" Emma asked angrily.

"Your forgetting, Sheriff, that I spent a fair amount of time linked to the same darkness, I would like to say that I understand how it works."

"Then you should know how to get rid of it," Henry contributed excitedly.

"Even if she wanted to be free of it, I believe that you already know the one and only method," Gold replied, though for the first time in a while he actually felt a pang of guilt. _I did this to her,_ he thought, before trying to push this aside and continue with the facade that he felt was rapidly crumbling.

"Trust me she wants to, and you were freed," Emma retorted.

"After a considerable amount of time," Gold smirked, "tells me, saviour, just how long can you wait to give her that precious ring?"

Emma's fists clenched and Henry had to grab her arm before she tried to punch the crippled man.

"Do you have any advice?" Henry asked, although he was rapidly losing his temper as well.

"Has she even done anything?" Belle pondered.

Henry and Emma turned to the librarian, who took a step back.

"I mean she hasn't right? I thought that she was just in her vault for the past few weeks."

Emma nodded, _she hasn't done anything, why is she in the holding cell?_ Despite her thought she felt images of Regina trying to take the dagger, and the clear conflict on the woman's face.

"Is it like being controlled?" the blonde asked turning back to the man in the bed.

Gold furrowed his brow for a moment, "it's different for every person, it depends whether or not she had embraced it."

"She hasn't, what does that mean?"

"Are you sure about that saviour?" Gold chuckled.

"Answer my question!" Emma shouted.

"Ma," Henry whispered.

The blonde sighed and closed her eyes, nodding she held up her hands, "please answer my question," she tried calmly. _This is pointless,_ she thought.

"I suppose it means that it is trying to convince her to embrace it. Once the darkness has complete control over its subject it can begin to sate its need for evil," Belle answered.

Gold looked at the woman in surprise, wondering if there was anything that she hadn't studied, and she simply shrugged with a small smile in response.

"She' right," Gold supplied.

"And how would it 'convince' her?" Emma asked with an exasperated sigh.

Gold thought back to his earlier days. He had always thought that he had trained himself to be more ruthless and uncaring, that it was his own fault that he sent his son through that portal. But without anything clouding his mind, he began to consider whether he had even had any thought for himself in the past few centuries.

"By taking away what she loves most," Rumpel replied, his eyes widening at his realisation. _Is that why Bae had to leave me?_ In retrospect he realised that he had become a much more sadistic person after that horrible day, _that's probably exactly what it wanted._ "Eventually she won't be able to separate her thoughts from it's."

Henry considered this for a moment, and nodded, "that makes sense, so we just need to make sure that we're louder."

"I believe that is easier said than done," Gold chuckled, which earned him a scowl from each person in the room.

* * *

Once the two intruders had left and Belle said she would be back as soon as she'd taken a shower, Gold let out sigh.

No matter what he had done to Regina, he couldn't help but think that this was just too much for the poor woman. Even if she did have the most resilient heart, it didn't mean that it had be tested with true happiness always just out reach.

Though rationally, Gold never saw the reason behind guilt, after all he had been a man of action since he had gained his former mantle; alone he could feel it mounting upon him at full force.

He had literally planned to ruin Regina's life before she was even born, and had still been able to do so despite Cora managing to get out of their contract.

Every step of her life, he had been the catalyst to her fall into darkness, and now he no longer had the voice in his mind justifying his actions.

He now felt as though he had always projected his issues onto Regina. Despite everything that he had done, he had always felt safe in the knowledge that it was for his son, but in the end none of that had mattered, his son had still died in the arms of the saviour.

So now everything just felt so pointless. There was no reason for Regina to suffer anymore, she had saved the people of this town enough times to be considered redeemed by many of them, She had a son and she would have had a fiancé soon. But now she was probably locked up somewhere, being constantly told that she doesn't need anyone other than herself. He knew what it was like to have doubt cast upon every relationship.

He had been told many times that he was a coward that didn't deserve a son, so he had strived to be more, and still ended up with nothing but power. Hundreds of years later, all he is now is a crippled old man, with no son and only Belle to stand by his side (something that he was sure he would mess up soon).

He knew that there was no way that he could help the woman, so he decided that he would just continue in denial as he always had.

 **A/N Reviews would be much appreciated, always interested to hear what you guys think :)**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter seven

 _"You cannot be serious!" Charming shouted._

 _"David calm down," Snow laughed._

 _"You expect me to just accept them together?"_

 _"Where was this attitude earlier?" his wife asked as she continued making coffee._

 _"Believe me, it was there, it was just too angry to get out," he grumbled._

 _"Angry about what? That your daughter is actually happy, or that your grandson has a parenting unit?"_

 _"How long have you been thinking about this?" Charming asked with narrowed eyes._

 _Snow tilted her head with a small smile, "clearly I wasn't as oblivious as you were."_

 _"So you've known and neglected to tell me," he asked accusatorily._

 _"No, I had a...feeling that there was something going on. And this is why I didn't tell you," she laughed in reply._

 _"Well that is just not fair," he pouted._

 _"Why?"_

 _"You've had time to come to terms with it," David replied while dropping his head into his hand._

 _"Well just don't take too long," she chuckled as she placed the coffee in front of him, "and I suggest you continue pretending until then."_

 _Charming nodded with a grimace._

* * *

David inspected the woman who seemed to be pretending to be asleep. Though he couldn't know for sure, he was pretty certain that something must have happened while he had gone to get lunch.

He knew that he wasn't actually allowed to leave the station alone unless he got an emergency call, but he couldn't stand the deafening silence anymore.

He could admit that he and Regina were probably never going to be best friends, but they had been getting along. David didn't know when, but at some point his fake acceptance had turned into to real acceptance. _Probably around the tenth time she saved Emma's life,_ he thought with an internal chuckle.

"I know you're awake," he sighed after a few moments.

"So?" Regina mumbled against her pillow. The queen had actually been trying to go to sleep since Henry left, so that she could shut up the voice, _he will never be your real son,_ but all she had been doing lately was sleeping and at the moment it was being very elusive.

"You know you shouldn't give up, right?" David tried.

Regina sighed, and sat up.

David took in a deep breath when she finally made eye contact.

"Your eyes..." he began.

Regina rolled her golden eyes, she had been able to feel the darkness seeping deeper into her being, frankly she was surprised that it had taken this long to change her appearance.

"You have met Rumplestiltiskin, haven't you?"

"But...we're in Storybrooke..."

"I don't have the energy to explain magical metamorphosis to you," she sighed as she lay back down. Even though the simple answer was that Gold's changed appearance was a result of the dark curse, so she didn't have the luxury of looking 'normal', she did just love making David feel like a moron.

David let out a sigh, mostly because he had a feeling that this meant that the darkness was getting stronger.

 _It will be fine,_ he continued repeating in his mind, though with each passing moment this mantra becoming less and less believable

* * *

The door opened and a nurse presented the witch with one of her daily meals.

Zelena took a calming breath. She had been in this 'institute' for over a year, and with each day she could feel her rage burn brighter. The Wicked Witch had spent each day planning scenarios under which she could make her sister miserable, and the other day she had heard something that had strengthened her resolve.

Two nurses had been discussing the rumour that the saviour was going to propose to the mayor, and this was something that Zelena was sure that Regina didn't deserve. _Why should she be happy?_ She had thought bitterly.

Now there was just the issue of getting out of this wretched place.

From under her mattress, she produced a sharpened piece of plastic that she had made out of a plastic knife that she had managed to take unnoticed. As soon as the nurse made to hand her the meal, she lunged forward and sank it into her shoulder. The woman let out a small cry of shock and pain, her hesitation giving Zelena a chance to run.

Over the last few weeks she had begun to notice the magical restraints weaken, she was sure that her dearest sister had become complacent in her magical responsibilities to this place. So now she took the opportunity to run straight through the magical barriers that surrounded this floor of the hospital, with the staff busy with handing out meals, she just about managed to slip away before an alarm could be raised.

 _Well that was easy_ she thought giddily.

* * *

An hour later the Wicked Witch entered her sister's vault.

She felt a spark of anger as she inspected all of the things that should have been hers, but she simply tried to push this feeling aside.

Closing her eyes, she allowed her limited natural magic to lead her to what she was looking for. In a few moments she felt herself being drawn to a jewellery box on one of the many cupboards.

Smiling she made her way over to it.

 _Not even locked?_ She thought as she pulled out the green pendant that Regina had stolen from her after her defeat.

"Someone's has been raised to be very foolish," she laughed as she inspected her precious necklace.

Clasping it around her neck, she felt her power return to her in a refreshing wave.

It was then that the thought occurred to her that this had all been just too easy. She had expected there to be a barrier upon the vault, but she had been able to walk straight in. She also managed to leave the hospital without a second glance from a single person.

Everyone in the town just seemed too preoccupied with something, _are they in crisis again?_ She wondered. Smiling she realised that this would probably only make it easier for her to achieve her goal.

 **A/N Sorry for not updating yesterday, I was far too tired haha**

 **Hope this chapter makes up for it though :)**

 **Would love to hear what you guys think :D**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter eight

 _"Where's Emma?" Henry asked casually as he dropped onto the couch._

 _Regina offered him a small smile, "David had some kind of Neal related emergency, so Emma had to cover the night shift."_

 _Henry nodded, seemingly deep in thought, until he noticed that Regina was packing away the snacks, "what are you doing?"_

 _"We can't have family movie night without her," she laughed as she gave the boy a curious look._

 _"You said I have be here," he replied petulantly._

 _"Did you have plans?" his mother asked with a raised eyebrow._

 _"Actually I was going to ask Grac-"_

 _Regina smirked as he quickly blushed and stopped talking._

 _"The point is," he continued, "that if I had to give up my plans to be here, so does she."_

 _"Henry, she's the sheriff, she can't leave the station until morning."_

 _Henry nodded, turning his attention to the shelf of DVD's._

 _Walking over to it, he found the one remaining VHS, "the sheriff station has a tape player," he said triumphantly as he handed it to Regina._

 _The queen nodded and looked down at what Henry had handed her._

 _Letting out a laugh she replied, "no chance."_

 _She had actually been tempted to bin the copy of 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarves' that she had found the day of the curse, she was sure that it was some kind of magical joke._

 _"Come on mom, we can't miss family movie night," he pouted._

 _"I thought you were angry that you 'had' to be here?" she scoffed._

 _Henry grabbed his bag and started throwing snacks into it._

 _"We've done it every week for a month, it's happening," he surmised as he grabbed the video case and threw into his bag._

 _He quickly shot a text to his other mother, and began walking towards the door._

 _Regina watched him go for a moment, before she just smiled and followed, "don't forget your coat," she shouted._

* * *

Regina looked blankly at the wall, Charming having had given up on trying to talk to her long ago.  
She had finally been able to sleep for about ten minutes before she rudely was woken up by a car backfiring, but with the dream she had she was grateful for falling asleep at all.  
Though she and Henry now spent a lot of time together, she had always been secretly afraid that she would lose him again somehow. Now with the darkness coursing through her mind and gripping her psyche, this worry had been amplified into pure hate. Even in her darkest days as the Evil Queen she had never thought that she could actively hate a child, though to be fair she never believed that she would have a child since adoption wasn't as common. Despite how grateful she felt that she had Henry in her life, she felt doubts seep into each memory. Like with the dream for example. This had been a memory with Henry that she had cherished, because she knew that behind his teenage angst, he had wanted to spend time with his mothers. But now she began to consider just why he had insisted on going to the sheriff's station. They could have just watched a movie together, but part of her thought that it wouldn't have nearly as fun as the makeshift couch they had made at the station, Henry and Emma chuckling at her protestations to nearly everything the Evil Queen did. Her girlfriend had pulled her into a one armed hug to protect her from their son's laughing. But the darker part of her began to resent that it seemed as if the blonde had to be there for her to spend time with her son. _She wasn't there for ten years,_ she thought bitterly.

Her eyes widened as she realised that she had actually thought that. It was become increasingly difficult to separate the voice from her own thoughts, something that was truly beginning to frighten her, she could just feel that it wanted her to submit to it, and she was beginning to lose her ability to not to do so.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the phone, and she faintly heard Charming answer it, "sheriff's station."

The conversation lasted about thirty seconds, and Regina saw his face contort in shock and fear with each one of them.

Finally he put the phone down, and Regina asked without looking at him, "another crisis?"

David nodded with a sigh, "Zelena got out."

Regina just raised her eyebrow, she was sure that this was something that should worry her, but in this moment she knew that there was almost nothing that her sister could do to hurt her without the risk of violent and effective revenge.

"Dad?" someone asked, and for a moment Regina forgot how to breathe. She hadn't known until this moment that she had wanted to hear her girlfriend's voice and for some reason as soon as she did she felt the darkness recede slightly.

David looked up from the desk to see his daughter and grandson walking through the door, each wearing apprehensive expressions.

"Hey," he replied cautiously, before turning his attention to the brunette in the holding cell. He had expected to see an angry or at least indifferent expression, but instead she was openly smiling.

Emma and Henry followed his eye line and they exchanged a shocked expression.

Emma walked closer to the cell, albeit not right up to the bars, "are you okay?"

Regina blinked for a moment, trying to figure out why she felt suddenly so different, but she just didn't know why, "I feel perfect," she admitted with a frown.

She waited for the deprecating voice, but it never came.

Emma furrowed her brow for a moment, continuing to inspect the other woman, "did you do something?"

Regina shook her head, "I've just been sitting here."

Emma nodded, and looked from Henry to David and then back to Regina. When she wasn't met with any malice at all, she stepped up to the bars, and lightly ran her thumb across the smaller woman's cheek.

"I guess you're just stronger than you think," she smiled.

David quickly jumped to his feet and pulled Emma back, "Emma...we don't know..."

"Dad, she's fine."

"She could be planning something, we don't know what the darkness has done to her," he retorted.

Emma was about to give her father a scathing reply, only to be interrupted by Regina, "the prince is right, you can't be too cautious. If you have a way to prove my sincerity beyond your superpower, I would be willing to take any test before you let me out."

Henry inspected his mother for a moment, he couldn't quite put his finger on it, but there was something different about her, but shaking his head, he suggested, "grandma can command her to tell the truth."

Emma sighed dramatically, but Regina nodded.

"Call her then Henry."

* * *

The four of them sat in silence as they waited for Snow to drop Neal off at Granny's as a precaution.

Emma and Regina continued sharing smiles, but Henry just kept seeing something different. Not long ago she was telling him that he wasn't her son, and now she was suddenly so different. He couldn't help but think that there was something going on, as much as he believed that his mother was capable of fighting darkness, he also knew that the power of the Dark One was designed to break people. _Has she finally given into it?_ He thought fearfully, after all it was a well known fact that the Dark One was not against manipulation.

David leaned back, and languidly checked his messages, and let out a sigh of relief.

"What?" Emma asked with a laugh.

"They got Zelena," he smiled triumphantly.

Emma looked at her father in shock and he explained, "I just got a call from the hospital that she got out, but apparently Ruby tracked her down before she got very far."

The female blonde nodded, but she couldn't help the feeling that couldn't be the whole story. She was sure that if Zelena escaped it would take more than half an hour to find her, but she decided just to accept the victory.

"Sorry it took so long," Snow breathed as she walked into the station, "Neal was being fussy."

"Yeah, yeah," Emma replied, as she rushed forward and grabbed the dagger from her mother's hand.

Snow just shook her head and went and sat next to her husband, who offered her a supportive smile.

"I command you to tell me what you plan to do if we let you out of the cell," Emma said as she held up the dagger, hoping with all her being that the reply would be positive.

"I plan to go home and spend time with my family," she replied.

Emma dropped her arm with a huge smile, but Henry quickly jumped up, and pulled his mother to the corner.

"You're being an idiot," he whispered.

"You too?" she sighed.

"I want her to be normal as much as you do, but we can't rush it," he replied.

"She just said-"

Henry rolled his eyes in a very much Regina-like fashion, and grabbed the dagger. What he did next felt very surreal, what child ever thinks that they would be able to command their mother?

"I command you to tell me any plans you have that may harm any person in Storybrooke."

Regina smiled openly at the boy, _he's so much smarter than Emma,_ she thought with an internal laugh, "I don't have any plans," she replied.

Henry nodded and began working through the implications of each word that she had said, thinking about possible double meanings, before he finally deemed them innocent. Throwing the dagger onto the desk, he grabbed the keys and ran towards the cell.

Within seconds, he was in his mother's embrace, "I missed you so much."

Regina brought her hand up and began softly stroking his hair, "I missed you too."

Henry furrowed his brow, he had expected her to say 'my little prince', but before he could bring this up his other mother joined the hug.

Snow and Charming shared a smile, no one in the room noticing the small shimmering of a cloaking charm in the corner of the room.

 **A/N I hope you guys enjoyed :)**

 **Sorry I haven't updated in a few days, I'll try and write a few chapters tomorrow so I have a bank of them haha :) I'll try and get back to updating everyday**

 **Also, not to worry, Zelena will be back haha**

 **Reviews would be much appreciated, I love enjoy hearing what you guys think XD**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter nine

Half an hour earlier  
With her magic returned, Zelena began to plan her next move.  
Cloaking herself as one of the townspeople, she ventured into the diner and with a coffee, sat at the counter trying to catch any gossip that may assist her.  
It didn't take long for the wolf to begin discussing the latest crisis with the book worm, who was sitting a couple sits down from her. They seemed to be deep in conversation, neither even registering the eavesdropper.  
"Have you found anything to help Regina?" Ruby asked.  
Belle shook her head solemnly, "I have double checked every source, and they all seem to agree that there is only one way to stop the darkness."  
Zelena's eyebrows went up in surprise, if she understood them correctly then her little sister may just be more powerful then she thought, but also much more easily controlled.  
"At least Snow still has the dagger, I honestly thought she would have lost it by now," Ruby chuckled darkly.  
"I'm sure she can handle it," Belle replied with a small laugh, "besides, I don't think Emma would ever forgive her if she did lose it."  
Ruby's face became serious as she nodded in agreement.  
Zelena smirked slightly and placed some money on the counter.  
Ruby looked up with a furrowed brow, "hey didn't you just get here?"  
Zelena was about to just ignore her and carry on, before she seemed to get a text.  
The wolf sighed and said to Belle, "Zelena got out and guess who they want to find her."  
The disguised Zelena rolled her eyes, _another thing I have to deal with_ she thought with an internal sigh.  


* * *

It was surprisingly easy to steal into the Charming's apartment. The only occupants were Snow and the baby, the latter of which was screaming uncontrollably. His mother was desperately trying to calm him down, whispering something along the lines of, "come on sweetheart, I really need to get to the station." Within a few minutes, an invisible Zelena found two daggers, each placed on the kitchen counter. For a moment she revelled in the image of 'Regina Mills' engraved upon the dark metal, before she waved her hand over the one next to it. Instantly, the engraving changed from 'Rumplestiltskin' to match the real dagger. Holding Neal, Snow quickly came to the counter, grabbing the first dagger she saw, she made out of the door. Zelena couldn't help but feel slightly sorry for Regina, who had to deal with these idiots on a daily basis, before she grabbed the real dagger.  


* * *

The Wicked Witch, stood behind a tree, hoping desperately that the wolf would fall for her trick. Once she had the dagger, she had one more issue to deal with before she could start her plan.

Choosing one of the random townspeople, she had cast a silencing spell, and a glamour spell.

Now her unconscious look alike lay on the forest floor, waiting to be found by the one wolf search party.

Sure enough, Ruby ran up into the clearing.

She approached the witch cautiously, before determining that she was in fact out for the count, and then pulled out her phone.

* * *

"Dad," the blonde called out.

Zelena materialised in the corner, neither the deputy nor the mayor noticing the slight bellowing of green smoke.

She took pleasure in the sight of the former Evil Queen locked up as she had been, but she now had the power to cause her much more pain, and there was no way that she was going to pass up the opportunity. The first thing she needed was for the Dark One to be free of the holding cell.

She whispered inaudibly, "I command you to find a peaceful way out of the cell."

"Are you okay?"

"I feel perfect."

"Did you do something?"

"I've just been sitting here."

"I guess you're stronger than you think."

 _It's working,_ Zelena thought gleefully, though she felt somewhat resentful of the saviour's unconditional love.

As father and daughter began to argue about the woman's sudden change, Zelena quietly sighed, and whispered, "suggest they use the dagger."

Sure enough her plan worked, within half an hour the newest Dark One was free of her imprisonment.

Zelena disappeared which caused a slight break in the invisibility charm, but none of the Charming's seemed to notice.

* * *

Zelena waited languidly in her farm house for hours just waiting for the right moment. As the clock struck one in the morning, she decided that now was as good a time as any.

"Dark One I summon thee," she said as she raised from her chair.

Instantly dark smoke bellowed, a second after revealing her little sister.

Regina seemed to have been woken up by the command, her grogginess making her look truly surprised.

"Zelena?" she asked with a confused expression.

"Surprised?" the witch laughed.

Regina rubbed her eyes, as if she was trying to wake herself up, but when she drew her hands away, she still saw Zelena standing before her holding her one weakness.

"What do you want from me?" she eventually asked with a sigh, after all this time she had actually thought that she would have gotten her happy ending. She had sincerely hoped, no matter how illogical she knew the notion to be, that she had internally defeated the darkness. She now recognised that she was being controlled, but she couldn't help but wonder why that would quiet the voice. At this thought, she got her answer, _your dear sister wishes for you to kill your family._

Regina swallowed hard, apparently the darkness inside of her was aware of the dagger bearers deepest wish before they even voiced it, she was sure this helped many a Dark One manipulate, but she also knew that it wouldn't be very helpful in this moment.

It was for this reason that she said in a resigned voice, "please Zelena, you don't have to do this."

"I know I don't have to; the fact is that I want to," she sneered, as she raised the dagger menacingly, "you have no choice but to do as I say."

Regina clenched her jaw, longing to return to Emma's arms that had been holding her tightly after three weeks of sleeping alone, "and what is it you would have me do?"

"For now act as you normally would, I simply wanted to ensure that you were under no illusions of happiness," she laughed manically.

With a sigh Regina nodded, she now realised that she was not strong enough to fight the darkness and that she probably never would be.

 **A.N Sorry it took so long to update, I couldn't think of where to go next haha also sorry if the formatting is off, I'm not sure why but when I pasted it in it got all messed up :( haha**

 **Anyway I hope you guys liked it and reviews would be much appreciated XD**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N I thought I should mention that I'm adding a major character death warning to this fic, so please be warned.**

Chapter ten

 _"I can totally cook," Emma pouted._

 _"Ah-hah," Regina replied, feigning interest as she placed a plate of pancakes in front of their son._

 _"Perhaps you can make breakfast tomorrow then," the mayor replied, turning around when she felt arms encircle her waist._

 _Emma instantly shook her head, "that is way too much pressure...how about brunch?"_

 _"You still believe that 'brunch' is a real thing?" Henry asked with his mouth full of delicious chocolate chip pancakes._

 _"Henry," Regina scolded._

 _The boy took an audible gulp, and with a wry grin, replied, "sorry mom."_

 _Regina turned back to Emma with a raised eyebrow, "see what you've done to him?"_

 _Emma blanched and said, "how is that my fault?"_

 _"You are quite uncouth, sheriff."_

 _Emma rolled her eyes, with a slight smirk, she pulled Regina closer to her, "so why do you love me?"_

 _"I find it to be an endearing trait in you, ten years of teaching social etiquette has been destroyed after one year with you," she smirked, leaning closer despite her insult._

 _Emma grinned and shook her head, leaning forward their lips met._

 _"I'm eating!" Henry shouted._

 _Regina rolled her eyes and turned back to the boy that had devoured his breakfast._

 _"You're finished," she pointed out._

 _Henry looked down at his plate and sighed, "okay then, do you want it to come back up?"_

 _"I thought that you were happy Operation SwanQueen worked," Emma laughed, as she walked over to the coffee machine that had finally seemed to have done its job._

 _Henry nodded, "I am, but nowhere in the operation did I mention that I wanted to see it."_

 _"We'll keep that in mind," Regina chuckled, taking the to-go coffee cup offered to her by Emma._

 _Henry grabbed his backpack and stood to follow his mother, and Emma shouted, "wait, am I making brunch?"_

 _Regina turned and offered her patented smirk, "you can if you wish, but I would suggest finding someone else's kitchen. I do prefer mine to remain unscathed by flames."_

* * *

-One month later **-** **(from the last chapter)**

Henry stared intently at the pancakes that Emma had made, they were slightly burnt on the edges, and not for the first time he longed for his brunette mother to have made them.

"Where's mom?"

Emma sighed, her shoulders tensed as she placed her coffee down on the counter, and replied, "she had to go to work early."

"Again?" Henry asked in disbelief.

"She's a busy woman."

"Well until two months ago she always went to work after I went to school," he complained.

"Well two months ago she wasn't..." Emma stopped herself and took a deep breath.

She had truly believed that she would be okay with Regina being her girlfriend who just happened to be the Dark One. At first it seemed to work perfectly, Regina acted as she always did.

But over time Emma had found that her quips lost their good nature, she was less attentive to her family, and she never even bothered to spend any time with Snow and Charming

Emma kept telling herself that the woman was just adjusting, but that didn't change the ache in her chest when she woke up to find Regina had already left for work.

"She just needs time, Henry."

The boy shrugged, and began to dissect his breakfast to find something edible, making Emma roll her eyes.

"Will you just eat kid?"

Henry nodded, and hopped off the stool to grab some cereal, which made Emma put her head in her hands as he got the milk out of the fridge.

* * *

Regina stared distastefully at her laptop screen.

It was way earlier than she would ever need to be in her office, but being here meant she didn't need to be near her family.

She was legitimately terrified of what her sister had planned, so she had been evading them at all cost. Then there were the thoughts that she was sure had nothing to do with the Wicked Witch.

At night she would snuggle up to Emma and for a moment be truly happy, but when she woke up in the morning the adorable sleeping face would immediately become irritating for no apparent reason. It was becoming increasingly difficult, however, to tell if this anger came from her own mind or had been concocted by the darkness taking residence within her.

"What do you want?" she asked without looking up from her hands.

A tutting sound was her response, and she desperately wished that she could just incinerate the intruder that she had sensed.

"Come now sis, is that any way to talk to your master?"

Regina finally looked up to see Zelena seating on the arm of one of her chairs, waving the dagger with an incredible smirk on her face.

"I suppose when your master commands no respect, it makes quite the suitable response."

Zelena rolled her eyes, and stood, making her way over to the desk.

Laying both hands on the glass surface, she placed the dagger within Regina's reach, and revelled in how the brunette's eyes flicked to it, knowing there was no way she could take it.

"What do you want?" Regina finally sighed, "I'm quite busy."

"I know for a fact that's not true, if my estimations are correct you just finished the last report for the next couple of months. You have been quite the good little mayor recently, Gina."

Regina clenched her fists, mostly because the witch was right, and she had purposely used a nickname that Regina only allowed Emma to call her. Coming to work so early and finishing as late as possible meant that running out of work was bound to happen, and it finally had.

"Do you have a command for me?"

Zelena tilted her head in amusement, "someone is eager to serve."

"You know the moment you lose that dagger I will crush your heart," Regina growled.

Zelena raised her eyebrows in surprise, with only a hint of fear upon her features, "someone is harbouring irrational hate."

"Irrational?" Regina scoffed, "you have ruined my life."

Zelena shook her head, "actually, you did. If you recall I haven't issued a single command in a month, but the fear of me doing so had ruined your relationships. Quite brilliant, don't you agree?"

Regina's eyes widened as she considered this, "why?" she asked with a shaky breath.

"Doubt is a powerful thing, sis," Zelena chuckled.

"Was that your whole plan?"

The Wicked Witch shook her head, "oh, of course not. I simply am choosing to enjoy this for as long as possible."

Regina gave her the evilest look that she could, "don't you think that people are going to notice that you're not actually in the institute."

"It appears that the sheriff is too preoccupied to notice the correlation between my mute clone and the missing dwarf," Zelena waved dismissively.

Regina sighed, wishing she could tell Emma everything, but her sister's only command meant that she couldn't.

A knock at the door interrupted the brief silence and Zelena smirked as Emma's voice came through the door, "I brought you breakfast Gina."

Emma did this almost every day, though she had yet to be allowed into the office.

Zelena smirked at her sister's look of hope, and picked up the dagger.

"Go ahead little sister, I'll allow you this one. Who knows when you'll ever get a chance once phase two begins?"

With that she disappeared in a cloud of green smoke.

Regina looked at the door. She knew that she wanted to allow the saviour in, but she just couldn't do it, despite her sisters words, the doubt lingered. It was a lot easier to deal with when the blonde was in a different building.

"I'm too busy Miss Swan."

She heard the dejected shuffling of boots, and after a few minutes she went to the door.

Opening it, she saw the to go container as she had expected.

Leaning down she picked it up and made her way back to her desk. Popping the lid off, she found the regular post-it note, that read 'I love you.' With a sad smile, she reached into her bottom draw, and pulled out a folder, adding the message to all of the others.

 **A/N Hope you guys enjoyed, sorry for the long wait, I'll try and update soon XD**

 **Reviews would be much appreciated**


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter eleven

 _Regina paced nervously outside of the Charming's apartment._

 _She turned to knock, before shaking her head and continuing her pace. As much as she didn't want to have to do this, she was very aware that she was the cause of Emma missing out on the romantic quirks of the Enchanted Forest, so she could be a good suitor, even if it would take some restraint on her part._

 _Taking a calming breath, she finally stopped and lightly tapped on the door, secretly wishing that they hadn't heard it over Neal's wails and that she could resolve to do this another day._

 _To her disappointment, however, the door opened immediately, "I was wondering when you were going to knock," David chuckled as he made his way over to the couch._

 _Regina followed him inside as she quietly closed the door, "where's Neal?"_

 _"Snow just put him down for his nap, she should be out any second," David replied as Regina sat on one of the stools at the kitchen island._

 _As if to prove him right, her former-stepdaughter walked out into the living room, and offered the mayor a broad smile, "we weren't expecting you," she said kindly._

 _Regina nodded, trying to come up with some lie as to why she was here, she was honestly having second thoughts about this whole chivalrous thing._

 _But as she looked over at a picture of Emma, she hardened her resolve and said, "I need to talk to you."_

 _Snow nodded, and sat next to her husband, each of them staring at her intently._

 _Though Regina had imagined their faces of shock many times as she thought about she and Emma becoming more than friends with benefits, she had never actually thought that they would find out. To be honest she had never thought that their relationship would become anything more than physical, but then the saviour had wormed her way forcefully through her walls and right into her heart, now being with her officially and very publically was all that she could think about._

 _"Regina?" said woman's eyes shot up to see the blonde coming down the stairs, "what are you doing here?"_

 _"Don't you have work?" she said accusatorily._

 _Emma tilted her head trying not to laugh, she held up her badge, "it fell off my belt this morning, just found it in my room."_

 _Regina rolled her eyes, and prayed that the saviour would just go off to work, but instead her mother chose that moment to be an idiot, "what did you want to talk to us about?"_

 _Emma's raised her eyebrows, and Regina decided to just bite the bullet, "I want permission to court your daughter."_

 _Emma's face dropped and her ears visibly turned pink, "court, seriously?" she choked out._

 _Snow looked between them in amusement, while her husband just smirked. At this point they seemed to be unaware that they were even there anyway._

 _"It's tradition," Regina defended._

 _"We're not in the Enchanted Forest," Emma countered._

 _"You're still a princess, Emma, despite all evidence to the contrary."_

 _Emma scoffed and rolled her eyes, only to be distracted by her mother's raised hand._

 _"What?" Regina asked._

 _"You asked a question," Snow reminded her, and the mayor's features instantly went from annoyed to anxious, "yes," she said simply._

 _Emma's head snapped towards her mother, causing both of her parents to laugh, "Seriously? I thought you would say no."_

 _"Why would we say no?" Charming asked with a furrowed brow."Though I must admit Regina being chivalrous is a little strange," he chuckled._

 _Regina gave him a dirty look and he just chuckled._

 _"You do know that we've known about the two of you for a while," Snow said after a moment, "I'm a little insulted that it took you this long to ask."_

 _"I'm beginning to regret this," Regina sighed, before she suddenly sat up in her seat, "how did you know?"_

 _"Ruby mentioned something about hormones," Snow waved her hand, "the point is that you have permission."_

 _Regina nodded realising what Snow meant, and walked over to Emma, with a deep sigh she said, "will you be my girlfriend?"_

 _Emma blinked a few times, she nodded and her father jumped up off the couch to push his daughter to the door before she tried to kiss her._

 _"We don't want to see that," he explained at Emma's confused expression, "besides, chivalry dictates that you have to wait for the first date."_

 _"Too late," Emma laughed, and her father just shook his head and closed the door._

* * *

Zelena smirked at the dagger.

Leaning back in one of the chairs in her beloved farm house, she revelled in the memory of Regina's doubt written plainly across her face for all to see.

She had finally managed to fully break the woman with the most resilient heart, and now she could begin the next part of her plan.

Laying the dark metal on the table, she imagined how completely destroyed her sister would be once her son and girlfriend were no longer able to trust her. However, she had to admit that Emma was a lot more persistent than she thought possible. The blonde clearly had complete faith in the brunette no matter what and it was beginning to irritate the Wicked Witch.

With a heavy sigh she resolved to finally step up her game.

* * *

Regina stared blankly at the doors of the Convent, and brought her fist up to loudly knock.

A moment later the grand doors opened to reveal Blue, "Regina, are you alright?"

Regina shook her head, and lied, "I wanted to talk to you about the origins of the Dark One."

Blue nodded vigorously, she had honestly been astonished by the way that people claimed Regina had dealt with the darkness. In every account she had ever read of the darkness it seemed to have never failed to warp a person, but she had been convinced that Regina may have endured enough to do what many before her had failed to do.

"Of course, please come in," the fairy smiled kindly, something that she never would have done before, but since this woman had saved her from the horrors of the hat she had felt able to trust her.

A few moments later, Regina stood in one of the many side rooms, very private.

"So what did you want to ask?"

Regina considered this for a moment, until she simply just smirked causing the fairy to furrow her brow.

"You know more than most about the darkness, correct?"

Blue nodded, subconsciously taking steps back as the mayor stalked towards her.

"Yes," she said nervously, "it makes it all the more incredible that you are able to resist it."

Regina tilted her head, "each Dark One seems to have worked towards their own ends, how would one know whether they were able to resist it?"

Blue gulped and thought for a moment, "each Dark One is different, they are either consumed by the darkness, in which case it will control them endeavouring to make its vessel more powerful. Or the person embraces it and they are able to use the darkness to achieve their own dark goals. Of course it doesn't have to be one or the other," she continued, hoping the information would make the queen stop looking at her in that evil way that she had once associated with her, "those that are strong enough to fight it off for as long as possible may end up being completely controlled."

"So how do you suppose that I am able to fight it?"

Blue swallowed hard, "by all rights it should be impossible, but you are a notoriously resilient person, the dagger should be the only thing that can control you," she chuckled nervously.

Regina felt her legs being forced to move towards the woman. In one step, she stood directly in front of the fairy who had run out of space to walk backwards, "you are right Blue," sinking her hand into the other woman's chest, she ripped her heart away, "it is quite difficult to resist."

 **A/N Hope you guys enjoyed XD**

 **Reviews would be much appreciated**


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter twelve

 _Henry watched his mother curiously as she typed furiously at her laptop, apparently doing some important report for the town._

 _"You know you finished work an hour ago," he pointed out._

 _"Every time there's a crisis I always return to a pile of paperwork," she sighed, and Henry nodded in understanding._

 _"You can still take a break," he sighed and grabbed her laptop._

 _"Don't you have homework?" she laughed as the computer was placed out of her reach._

 _"Yes actually I do," he said rather dramatically, "ma said that I have to help you relax, so we're watching TV."_

 _Regina nodded with a skeptical look on her face, and said, "she thinks I need to relax?"_

 _"She said that she can feel the stress ooze from you or something and that it's not good for your health."_

 _"Okay...and where is she?"_

 _Henry shrugged and grabbed the remote, "she has something important to do."_

 _"She doesn't have work tonight," Regina replied with a furrowed brow._

 _"It's not work, now please can we watch Avengers?" he pouted._

 _"We've watched it ten times," she laughed and he pouted more, "how about The Winter Soldier?"_

 _He nodded instantly and jumped up to find the DVD, which was met with a chuckle from his mother._

 _At about five in the morning, Emma walked into the house to find her girlfriend and son fast asleep on the couch._

 _She let out a little, "aww" and pulled a blanket over the pair, before making her way upstairs to get some much needed sleep herself, at least for a couple hours._

 _Hours later Regina woke with an audible content yawn, and lightly nudged Henry until he sat up and rubbed his eyes, "how long were we asleep?" he asked._

 _Regina picked up her phone, expecting it to be about nine at night, and her eyes instantly widened once the blurriness disappeared to reveal that it was seven in the morning._

 _"Morning, sleepyheads," Emma greeted and placed cereal in front of Henry and coffee in front of Regina._

 _"Why would you let me sleep for that long, Emma?" Regina sighed and made to grab for her laptop._

 _Emma put her hand on top of it and shook her head, "because you had nothing else to do."_

 _"Of course I..." Regina was cut off when a pile of paper was placed on the table._

 _"I got the work from your secretary, I figured you'd need sleep after a week of none, so I stayed up and did your work."_

 _Regina stared at the papers in front of her and asked, "how could you have possibly finished it all in time_?"

 _"I had a production line," Emma shrugged, "me, my parents, Ruby and Belle. You just have to sign it all."_

 _Regina blinked a few times, before she let out a relieved sigh, and jumped up to give the other woman a sweet 'thank you' kiss._

* * *

"Are you sure that this is the best time to take a break?" Snow asked as she held up one of the tent poles.

Charming offered his wife a supportive smile, and attached the pole, finally finishing the tent.

"Emma said that she'll look after Neal, you know you love camping, just try and have some fun," he brought her into a one armed hug and kissed her temple.

"But..." she tried to protest.

"Regina's fine Snow," he assured.

"Then why hasn't Emma proposed yet?"

Charming furrowed his brow, and finally shrugged, "maybe she just got cold feet, she has tried a few times," he laughed, "it's fine, they're just adjusting."

"Is that why Emma also looks depressed?"

David thought about this for a second and sighed, "Well there's nothing we can do now, maybe babysitting will give her a much needed distraction. You did pack the dagger right?"

Snow nodded and brought it out of her bag.

"It'll be fine then," he smiled weakly, and set about starting a fire.

* * *

Regina stood in her vault, placing the newly acquired hearts into boxes, one for each fairy.

She had commanded each of them that they couldn't mention to anyone what she had done to them, and had allowed them to live, at least, for now.

She placed them with the others, and turned when she heard a familiar rustling.

"Emma?" she sighed, seeing her standing at the entrance, with widened eyes.

"What are you doing?" the blonde asked as she cautiously approached her girlfriend, though she hadn't seen what the mayor had been doing, she still found herself awfully suspicious of the expression on the woman's face.

"I decided to organise, is that a crime sheriff?" she drawled and pretended to begin alphabetising the already pristinely organised potion ingredients, "why are you here?"

Emma sighed and replied honestly, "I haven't seen you in a while, besides I need your help with Neal."

"You really trust the Dark One to look after your little brother?"

Emma furrowed her brow deeply, and replied, "What are you talking about?

"I heard you and Henry talking about how different I am; clearly I am not the person you loved anymore."

"I still love you as much as I did months ago, the difference is that I hardly see you anymore," Emma sighed and tried to put an arm around the smaller woman, who tensed and quickly stepped out of her reach.

"Please leave, Miss Swan, I am quite busy."

"No you are not," she finally shouted, "stop ignoring me and tell me what's wrong!"

"What's wrong is that I live in a town surrounded by idiots," she growled, "do you honestly believe that the point of my curse was to become a Charming?"

Emma's eyes widened, any sharp retorts dying on her tongue, "how...?"

"I am not as imbecilic as you; you left the ring in my bedside table for a week."

The blonde furrowed her brow a moment, and let out an exasperated sigh when she realised that the other woman was right. But then her shoulders sagged as the implications of Regina's words registered, "are you saying that you don't want to marry me?"

Regina tilted her head, a small part of her still trying to stave off the commands coming from across town, but she now found herself completely helpless against them, "you're forgetting dear that I am immortal now."

"So?" the blonde asked, a hint of desperation in her voice.

"You will be a distant memory to me soon enough, why would commitment be necessary?"

"Rumpel got married," Emma tried.

"Rumpel was over two hundred years old when he met Belle, his relationship with his first wife was not exactly a success. Do you not think it's possible that in the next couple centuries I could find some better than you?"

Pain flashed across the saviour's face, her girlfriend's words brought forth all of the times she had been told that she wasn't enough and all of the times that she had believed it.

"A-are you breaking up with me then?" she managed to ask the love of her life.

Regina shrugged casually, "I see no reason to maintain the facade."

Emma swallowed hard and nodded, a few tears made their way down her face, and she asked, "what about Henry?"

"I suppose the same principal applies," she shrugged, "you can have him."

"I can 'have him'?" the blonde asked incredulously, "he's our son, Regina."

"Technically he isn't my son, yet another pointless charade in the pursuit of happiness," she sighed.

Emma stared blankly at her for a moment, before she just nodded and turned on her heels, she still had a lot to process.

"Oh and Emma," Regina called, said woman quickly turned around with hope clear on her face, "do remember that 108 Mifflin Street is my home."

 **A/N Sorry this update took so long, but I have to be in a certain mood to write this fic, so I can't** **guarantee when the next chapter will be, but I'll try and make sure it doesn't take this long again :)**

 **Hope you guys enjoyed and I would love to hear what you thought XD**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N This chapter has a T/W for a character death**

Chapter thirteen

"Why would you make me do that?" Regina whispered as she sensed smoke billowing behind her.

Zelena laughed heartily and replied, "Because I could feel the pain oozing through each pore of your body while you were helpless to stop me."

Regina clenched one of her fists and quickly spun around on her heels with a fireball in the other. However, as soon as she faced her sister, she felt a silent command and extinguish the magical flame.

"Have you not yet learnt that you are not strong enough, Regina? You will never be strong enough to keep your happy ending, someone more powerful will always come along to take it from you."

Regina took a shaky breath and replied, "you won, you can go back to Oz now."

Zelena shook her head with a smirk, "so that you can just explain to your dear saviour that you were forced to break up with her? Do you honestly think that after a life time of work I would be content to simply leave without watching your complete and utter misery as your family live without you?"

"They wouldn't…" Regina began, but then she began to feel the familiar voice return.

They could easily live without you.

Henry spent months without you and not once did he even think about going back to you.

Emma will move on from you, she won't take long to start going out with the pirate.

Regina brought her hand up to her temple and light rubbed it as if she could will the thoughts away, and after clearing her throat continued, "they wouldn't be able to move on."

"You sound unsure, dear," Zelena said in fake sympathy.

"What else do you want from me?" Regina growled.

Zelena tilted her head in consideration and a huge smirk appeared across her face, "I suppose I could make her completely hate you."

S

"Emma calm down, what's wrong?" Snow asked as calmly as possible after she heard her daughter's tearful explanation of the day's events through her phone's loudspeaker.

Emma took a heaving breath and finally managed some coherent words, "Regina broke up with me."

Snow and David were silent for a moment as the words registered.

Snow felt guilty for a second when she realised that she had not long ago been wishing for this to happen, but now she could hardly deny that Emma and Regina made the perfect couple and that the town was certainly safer with a happy mayor and sheriff who were actually able to work together effectively.

"Why?" David managed to say.

"She said that since she's immortal, she could find someone better," Emma sniffled.

Anger contorted David's face at the thought that the woman who he had finally stopped considering his mortal enemy, could have done this to his daughter.

"Well then so can you," he replied.

"David!" Snow said incredulously.

"What?"

Snow rolled her eyes and grabbed the phone, and after taking it off loud speaker brought it to her ear, "it's going to be okay sweetheart."

"It doesn't feel that way," she returned.

Snow sighed and nodded in understanding, before she realised that her daughter couldn't see her and replied, "Do you want us to come back and take Neal off your hands?"

"Ruby offered to look after him."

"Okay, but do you want us to come back anyway?" she tried, desperately hoping that her daughter was adjusted enough to not reject the idea of needing her parents.

Emma was silent for a moment and then replied in a small voice, "Yes please, mom."

"We'll pack up as fast as possible, we should be back in about an hour, okay?"

"Okay."

* * *

Emma stared at her phone for five minutes straight and finally the ringer went off, "are you nearly here?" she asked without pretence.

"Emma, it's only been ten minutes," Snow laughed, "I just wanted to let you know that we're all packed."

"Okay," she sighed, "please hurry up, I need cocoa."

Snow laughed again, she was about to reply that Emma could have all the cocoa in the world, but she was interrupted by the distinct swooshing noise of magic.

Emma recognised the sound instantly and jumped up from the multiple duvets she was covered in, "mom?"

No reply came from the pixie haired woman, but instead she heard somewhat distantly, "Regina?"

Panic began to run rapidly through the blonde's system and without a second thought, white smoke engulfed her body taking her to her parents.

Snow blinked a few times as her disheveled looking daughter appeared directly in front of her.

Regina rolled her eyes and said, "do you never give up, Miss Swan?"

The other brunette noticed instantly the defeated sag of the blonde's shoulders and instantly felt angry at her former stepmother for thinking even for a second that she could treat her daughter that way, though a small part of her knew that there was something amiss about the mayor.

"What are you doing here?" Emma asked in a slightly hoarse voice.

"That doesn't concern you," Regina replied casually.

"I disagree," the saviour retorted, her stance changing into one of a protector, "I don't care what happened in the past, I won't let you hurt my parents."

Regina laughed and began walking towards her ex-girlfriend, "you say that as if you have a choice in the matter."

"Mom?" a voice called.

Regina turned around to see the child she had been forced to give up, and the darkness just about managed to force her to maintain the façade.

"What is he doing here?" she scowled.

"You said I could go camping with Snow and David months ago," Henry replied with a furrowed brow as he inspected the odd appearances of his two mothers, "I was just getting firewood."

Emma noticed as a muscle twitched in Regina's jaw and she seemed to be unable to stop herself from asking, "they let you go out into the woods alone?"

Henry looked between his grandparents and replied, "yes..."

Regina took a deep breath and finally recomposed herself, turning away from the child she had raised for more than a decade.

"No matter, I have something important to do," she said without looking back at Henry.

"Which is?" Emma asked carefully.

"I do not enjoy having one very well known weakness, so I wish to remedy the situation. Of course I need the heart of someone who knew me before I was consumed by darkness, Rumple, Jefferson and Snow were the only options, so I chose the one that I would enjoy the most. And just to make everything so much better, the two idiots share a heart."

With a wave of her hand, the saviour went flying against a tree where she was held firmly in place, in the same move she froze each of the Charmings in place.

Henry watched in shock as Regina raised both of her hands to his grandparents chests, but as some of it stopped clouding his thoughts, he noticed a slight resistant twitch in her hand and everything came together in his mind. He knew that Regina would never willingly be apart from him and Emma and over the last few weeks she had been ignoring each of them.

A theory began rapidly forming, and without another thought, he ran forward and grabbed her arm.

"Mom, you have got to fight whoever is controlling you."

A slow clapping could be heard from behind them, and each person turned to see the formerly green woman walking towards them, "well isn't my dear nephew just so clever?"

Regina took a deep breath and looked away from her, instead looking into Henry's green eyes that looked so much like Emma's. For a moment, she felt the darkness's hold recede and she dropped her arms to her sides, her spells disappeared and each adult Charming was set free.

Emma balanced herself against the tree so that she wouldn't fall to the ground and then saw the dagger firmly in Zelena's hand and instantly she knew that her mother really was an idiot.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she asked, though she felt a burst of hope at the prospect that the heart crushing break up had not been real.

"I didn't exactly have the option," the mayor replied through gritted teeth as her body was desperately trying to get her to bring her arms back up.

Emma nodded with a huge smile on her face and ran over to the woman who she was now sure was her happy ending.

Bringing her hand up, she lightly placed it on her cheek which made Regina visibly relax.

"You can fight it, Regina," she whispered.

Zelena laughed and said, "well I suppose I should have expected you Charmings to foil my plan, but lucky for me there are still many ways for me to make my dear sister miserable. I command you to kill the love of your life, Dark One."

Instantly Regina's hand sank into her girlfriend's chest, and she furrowed her brow as she felt no resistance while ripping out the saviour's heart.

"I thought that was impossible," Snow said in shock while her daughter fell to the ground.

Emma shook her head and looked up at the former Evil Queen who literally held her life in her hands, "it already belongs to her."

As soon as the words left the blonde's mouth she relaxed as Regina loosened her grip on the glowing organ.

Zelena rolled her eyes and tried again, "I command you to crush her heart."

Regina swallowed hard and just about managed to only slightly squeeze the heart, which caused the saviour to groan in pain for a moment.

"I know you can fight this, Regina," Emma said once she had opened her eyes.

Regina shook her head, and instantly Emma got an idea, just as Henry said they needed to show her that they would stand by her, and there was one very specific way she could think of to do that.

Pulling up one of her knees, she managed to get to balance despite the pain radiating throughout her body, and with a small cloud of smoke above her outstretched hand made a velvet box appear.

"I know you can fight this Regina, you are more powerful than the darkness," Emma insisted, "so when all of this is over, will you marry me?"

"Kill her!" Zelena shouted.

Regina looked between the saviour and the Wicked Witch and finally completely loosened her grip on the heart. Falling to her knees, she thrust her arm forward and returned the vital organ to the blonde.

Bringing her hand up to her cheek, she leaned forward and quickly captured her lips, "yes," she whispered.

Once she adjusted to having her heart back, a huge smile spread across Emma's face and she lightly took the ring out of its box and placed it on her fiance's finger.

"No!" Zelena shouted while stamping her foot, "that's not fair!" she whined. "How can you always get everything you could ever want, it's not fair!"

Regina stood regally, and walked over to the woman who was shaking and holding out the dagger in a vain attempt to regain control of the situation.

"I get what I want because I no longer spend my life fixated on making other people miserable. But obviously you will never stop being the bane of my life," she growled and sank her hand into her sister's chest as pure rage consumed her at the thought of the possibility that she could have actually taken Emma's life.

Before anyone could make a protest, Zelena fell to the ground while the dust of her heart followed her.

Silence fell over the clearing, and Regina stared blankly at the dead body at her feet.

Instantly she felt regret for the first time following taking a life and she was about to tell the other people as much, but when she turned around she saw someone that no one else seemed to even register was there.

Her mouth fell open at the scaly appearance that she hadn't seen since just before she cast the curse, and she didn't even look at the disapproving looks that were being shot her way.

Her suspicions were confirmed when nobody so much as looked in his direction as Rumpelstiltskin said, "did you really think it was over, dearie?"

 **A/N Sorry for not updating for a while, but as I've said I have to be in a certain mood to write this one and I wouldn't want the quality to decrease just for the sake of updating, so I won't be able to guarantee when the next chapter is, but just know that it will come :)**

 **Reviews would be much appreciated XD**


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter fourteen

Regina continued to stare at her former mentor, and the others in the clearing shifted their shocked gazes to the empty space that the mayor was looking so intently at.

"They can't see me," Rumple giggled and Regina swallowed hard, slightly inclining her head to acknowledge what the spirit had said.

"Regina?" Emma asked cautiously.

Regina blinked a few times and turned her attention to her fiancé who was looking worriedly at her.

Rumple came and stood behind her, whispering "she won't be able to stop the darkness."

"I'm fine," she replied to the blonde unconvincingly.

Emma nodded.

Regina didn't register the sheriff starting to come over to her as Rumple continued, "will you ever be happy knowing that there is something that can so easily control it. Are you confident that you will always be able to resist, after all, the saviour can't propose to you every time someone attempts to use you as a pawn in their plans. You should continue with your plan."

Regina set her jaw, she refused to believe that there was any truth in the plan that she believed Zelena had wanted her to use as an excuse. For once in her life, she didn't want to crush Snow White's heart, she wanted to go home with her fiancé and son and just be happy.

"Wouldn't you prefer to ensure that you can be happy forever, knowing that the dagger is always around, you will never achieve what you have been striving for all your life. There is one way to ensure that you are free," Rumple insisted.

The brunette began to move forward, and initially Emma thought that she was just coming to accept the hug that she was so ready to offer, but instead she just went straight past the blonde and towards her parents.

"Regina?" Emma tried again after inspecting the almost possessed look on the other woman's face, "are you okay?"

The blonde came up beside her and placed a hand on her upper arm just as she finally stood directly in front of the other two Charmings.

"Just two simple heart rips and you will have happiness for all time, you will be the most powerful sorceress to have roamed any realm."

A swirl of purple appeared beside her heels and each other person instantly recognised the box that the Dark One had summoned.

Emma looked over to Zelena to make sure that she hadn't magically woken up, she felt disappointment crash through her system as she saw the Wicked Witch was still unmoving.

Squeezing the former Evil Queen's bicep, she tried again, "you can fight this," she whispered.

"Why would you fight the darkness, dearie?" Rumple giggled, "remember its enthralling grasp? How spectacular it felt to know that all feared you? That after years of your mother's abuse, you were finally powerful enough to stand against her. Your darkness has done you far more than the light ever has."

Regina took a shaky breath, not even noticing when she magically bound her would-be parents-in-law in place once again, this time completely preventing them from making any movements at all.

Emma's eyes widened and she pulled the smaller woman away from them, forcing her to face her, "Regina, look at me," she insisted, "you don't have to do this."

"You do not enjoy being controlled," the former Dark One said.

"I do not enjoy being controlled," Regina repeated.

Henry blinked out of his shock at seeing his mother take his aunts life and came to stand beside Emma, "mom, snap out of it, you don't have to listen to him."

His blonde mother tilted her head slightly and whispered, "what?"

"When everything happened I looked up the origins of the Dark One," he replied, only partly because it seemed to be maintaining his adoptive mother's attention away from murdering his grandparents. "After so long, every one of them are visited by a manifestation of the Dark One, which would be Mr Gold for mom. They try and convince them to embrace the darkness, but they usually wait until they're at their lowest point."

Emma nodded, between understanding and caring, she said, "you can fight against him, Regina, and you've done it before."

"You don't need to do that Regina," Rumple insisted, "do this and we can both be free."

Regina's distant look suddenly fell away as she realised that the darkness must have accidently revealed its plan. It certainly made some sense that if she were to be free of the dagger, then the darkness would be completely free of it as well. She also had no doubt that it would have the ability to completely consume her.

"You already took the fairies' hearts just as I told you to," he said, sounding somewhat desperate, "just half a heart from each of them and we can both get the power we want."

"I don't want power," Regina replied in a whisper.

Emma and Henry exchanged a look as Regina proved the young boy's theory to be correct, the blonde noticed the hopeful look on her son's face and couldn't help but feel its infectious ability as hope began to bloom through her chest.

"Of course you want power," Rumple growled, "you have always thrived on it. For twenty-eight years you lived without magic and you cannot deny that you felt its absence every day, almost as if a part of you was missing. You and I both understand the addictive nature of dark magic, just do to Snow and her husband what you have always dreamed of doing and you will have more power than any living person has ever had."

Regina shook her head, completely ignoring the silent hopeful conversation her son seemed to be having beside her.

Rumple sighed rather dramatically and made the familiar pinching motion, instantly a sputtering sound came from beside her.

Turning she saw Henry clawing at his throat as his airway constricted.

"Stop!" Regina shouted.

"But, dearie, I am not doing anything," he replied, proving his point by relaxing his hand, which didn't change Henry's ability to breathe.

"Regina, stop!" Emma's voice shouted, and Regina suddenly looked down to see her finger involuntarily clenched in the spell's position. A moment later, she relaxed them with a lot of effort on her part, and Henry took a deep breath, falling into his blonde mother's side, who promptly caught him.

"The dagger may control me, but I control you," Rumple laughed, "now do as I say, your majesty."

Regina spun on her heels and sank each hand into the frozen people's chests, neither able to show the looks of immense pain that they felt.

Emma held Henry closely next to her, as if she were trying to ensure that he was still alive, and shouted desperately, "please Regina, you're strong enough, don't take them away from me."

"She will forgive you," Rumple lied, "now do it!"

Regina felt her hands beginning to contract, ready to do what she had done countless times before, ripping out a heart.

Her eyes fluttered closed and she imagined Emma's lips against her own, Henry's excited grin at just about everything, Snow's face when Neal's first word was 'Gina' instead of 'momma' and David's exasperated look whenever she said some kind of quip. She knew that they weren't the average family, especially considering all of the past, but she couldn't deny that she wouldn't trade them in for anything and she allowed herself to believe that each of them felt the same away about her.

With those thoughts sending a flash of light through her, she pulled her hands back.

Just as she felt herself being forced to try again, she took a deep breath and brought the dagger that had been lying across the clearing to her hand.

Henry and Emma looked at the brunette with expressions of utter confusion as she was clearly fighting to do something, they just weren't sure exactly what.

"Don't even think about it!" Rumple roared.

Regina thought back to the book that she was sure both she and Henry had read, and after a moment decided that this was truly the best.

Taking a final deep breath, she looked up to the pair that she loved more than she thought she was capable of, and said, "I'm not strong enough."

With that, she sank the dagger into her own heart.

 **A/N Hope you guys enjoyed, I would love to hear what you thought :)**


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N There's a T/W for character death and major angst for this chapter**

Chapter fifteen

Snow and Charming were each released from their magical binds and fell to the their knees as the woman in front of them did the same.

Blinking a few times to get her bearings back, Snow watched as Regina fell completely to the ground, the dagger lodged in her chest.

"Regina!" Emma shouted and fell to her knees next to her fiance, lightly she placed her hand on the other woman's shoulder and shook her. Much to the blonde's relief, the brunette took a shaky breath, and looked up at her through bleary eyes.

"E-Emma," she breathed as if she couldn't quite believe that she was still there.

"What the hell was that?!" the saviour shouted.

Blood began to trickle down the corner of Regina's mouth and a cough racked her body, the gurgling of blood sounding in her throat, "not strong enough," she repeated.

"Mom?" Henry whispered dangerously quiet. He had read the theory that if the Dark One were to stab themselves in the heart it would end the cycle. For the rest of time, the darkness would be trapped in the body, unable to infect another mortal. The problem was that any Dark One that may have even considered the possibility was not strong enough to fight against the darkness to actually carry out the deed.

Regina took a heaving breath and brought her hand up, instantly Henry fell down next to the brunette, allowing her to caress his cheek, "so...proud..."

Henry nodded to stop her from talking, this sounded far too much like she was saying goodbye forever and that was certainly not something he would ever be able to accept.

"It's going to be okay mom," he replied through his tears, "there has to be a way."

Regina shook her head, "he...will make me h-hurt you..."

Emma watched the blood fall intently and quickly looked over at her parents to make sure that they were still there. Seeing the expressions of pure anguish on their faces, she couldn't help but think that this was truly the end of her happiness, if Snow White didn't think there was a last minute way to save the love of her life.

"Regina," she sighed and squeezed her shoulder lightly, "you can't do this...you promised!"

Henry furrowed his brow and looked up at his blonde mother. He of course didn't know about his mother's promise to not die, so it just looked as though Emma had gone completely mad.

Regina let out a little pained laugh and replied, "I'm...sorry..."

Emma was about to say the goodbye that the redeemed queen deserved, but just as she was about try and get the shaky words out of her mouth, Regina took a final breath as her eyes fluttered closed.

After a moment of complete and oppressive silence, Emma thrust two fingers forward to Regina's pulse point, beginning to hyperventilate, she shifted them to different points, failing to feel anything no matter where she put her fingers.

Henry grabbed the woman's arm and pulled it away, looking at her seriously, he said, "kiss her."

Emma nodded, feeling like a complete idiot for not thinking of it first, she knew that True Love's Kiss fixed almost all of their problems, so why would it fail her now?

Leaning down, she placed a soft chaste kiss to the rapidly chilling lips and leaned back expectantly. When full seconds past with no response, she leaned back down, desperately placing harder kiss's to her True Love's lips.

Vaguely, she recognised someone grabbing her by the shoulders and pulling her away from the body. Later she would be grateful for her father's actions, but in that moment all she wanted was to be close to Regina for what she knew would probably be the last time, so she began fighting against his strong grip, "no!" she shouted, "let go!"

"Emma, she's gone," Snow said solemnly as Henry lightly wiped the blood away from his mother's cheek.

* * *

Tears tracked down Emma's face as she stared blankly at the mantel of photos in the Charming's apartment. They had their fair share of family moments, and it made the blonde slightly smile that so many of them had the sarcastic brunette in them. In many of them, Regina appeared to be rolling her eyes or just about to be, but in one in particular she looked genuinely happy.

She and Henry had taken the brunette for a picnic in the park, and with her girlfriend's arm around her and her son sitting mere inches away from her, she looked more content than she had in years.

Emma would stare at the pictures for a hours, before she realised that they were just pictures, moments in time that would forever stay in the past. Regina would never appear in another family photo. Worst of all was the moment when it dawned upon her that Neal would never remember her, when she was sure that no one was around, she finally allowed the floodgates to open and cried herself to sleep.

As she shut down, Henry seemed to be doing the exact opposite.

He helped his grandparents with the funeral plans, worked on updating photo albums and even helped Snow as she took on the role of interim mayor until they had time for a real election.

The only sign that he was breaking apart inside was the fact that he had not yet been back to the house in which he had spent so much of his life.

Neither him, nor Emma, had been able to build up the courage to go back there, where they both knew there would be signs of the woman that they each missed deeply.

Emma vaguely recognised people bustling around her in the background, but in that moment she couldn't bring herself to care.

She heard Snow say something like 'what she would have wanted' and desperately tried not to snap at her mother. She was sure that no one in this room truly knew what the wonderfully complicated woman would have wanted. Though Henry had been helping with the funeral arrangements, and obviously knew his mother better than anyone, Emma doubted that he knew what colour Regina would have wanted her tombstone to be.

In the days following what people were now calling 'the incident' Snow and David had been marginally less idiotic than they were usually. They hadn't pestered their daughter to talk, knowing there was only one person that she would want talk to, so instead they had turned their attention to keeping Henry busy as Archie had suggested. The therapist had urged Snow that Henry was the type that needed something to do, he wouldn't be able to deal with just sitting around, whereas Emma needed to just mourn alone. Without question, Snow had listened, mostly because she was desperate for Archie not to notice that she was breaking apart herself.

Working in Regina's office was not something she ever wanted to go back, she knew that she wasn't half as capable as her former stepmother had been at the job, and then there was the fact that she was denying herself the opportunity to mourn. She no longer had any doubt that Regina was part of her family, and at this point, she hadn't actually thought about their past in months. The issue was that she had a daughter and a grandson who needed her to keep it together, and as David took over the position of sheriff, she knew that he felt the same way. When they were sure that it was just the two of them in earshot, they would actually talk about how they couldn't believe that they could miss the woman so much.

Snow had always thought that Emma was the person who held the dysfunctional Charming family together, but with the absence of the person who had essentially brought her a version of her happy ending that she could never have dream she wanted, she knew that it wasn't just her daughter who had filled this position. Without Regina, Henry would never have existed and though she longed for the opportunity to have raised Emma, she knew that if she had than her daughter wouldn't be the person that she loved so unconditionally now.

She just didn't know whether she would feel the same happiness around her family again.

* * *

For Emma, moments of half listening turned into hours, hours into days and days into a week.

Ultimately it was decided that the best thing would be for Regina to be laid to rest with her parents, with the open casket service available to those who felt that they needed to say goodbye.

Understandably, Henry had decided to forgo this, with her parents watching him in another room, Emma slowly made her way to the casket. But Emma noted that the room was almost completely full, I guess she got redemption.

Taking a steadying breath she closed her eyes, and came up next to her would-be fiancé.

Regina looked as regal as ever, and Emma could almost pretend that she was asleep.

Looking around, she saw that no one else had approached; they clearly understood the saviour's need for privacy in this moment.

"Hi," she laughed nervously through her tears. "I've never been good at this..." she sighed. Her final words to the woman had haunted her. She wished that she hadn't spent her last words whining about something stupid promise that Regina could never have kept.

After some hesitation, she brought her finger to the woman's cheek and ran the tip across its cold surface.

"Who would have guessed that you would be the hero, huh?" the saviour chuckled through a sniffle. Bringing her hand away, she trained her attention upon the ring finger that no longer had the engagement ring upon it. Whale had asked her if she wished for Regina to be buried with the platinum piece of jewelry and Emma had replied no. Digging into her pocket, she inspected what she had denied the woman. She ran her finger across the swan and apple that she had so intricately magically carved upon the metal.

She wanted something to always keep Regina with her, but she also wanted the woman she wanted to marry to have the ring that she had promised her.

So with a deep breath, she focused intently on what she wanted to do, and a moment later a second ring appeared in her open palm.

Softly she took Regina's left hand, and placed the platinum upon her ring finger, the swan now it's only occupant. Placing it's almost identical twin on her own finger, she took a second to inspect the apple design.

Laying her hand on Regina's she joined the two images for the last time, as a she vaguely heard someone announce that it was time to close the casket.

"You were strong enough," she whispered.

 **A/N Hope you guys enjoyed this fic, thanks for sticking with it even with the random updates haha XD**

 **I literally started this to get more confident writing angst, so feel free to let me know any ways in which I can improve it.**

 **I need to thank my beta QueenApples for her help, and also Quindecim for helping to talk through ideas XD**

 **Please leave a review, I would love to hear what you thought of this fic**


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